A. No insurer, employees, or agents of any insurer, or any other person acting without malice, fraudulent intent, or bad faith, shall be subject to civil liability for libel, slander, or any other relevant tort, and no civil cause of action of any nature shall exist against such person or entity by virtue of the filing of reports or furnishing other information, either orally or in writing, concerning suspected, anticipated, or completed fraudulent insurance acts when such reports or information are required by this Part or required by the office of insurance fraud as a result of the authority granted pursuant to this Part or when such reports or information are provided to or received from:

            (1) Law enforcement officials, their agents, and employees.

            (2) The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the state Department of Insurance, a federal or state agency or bureau established to detect and prevent fraudulent insurance acts, as well as any other organization established for the same purpose, their agents, employees, or designees.

            (3) A person involved in the prevention and detection of fraudulent insurance acts or that person’s employees, agents, or representatives.

            B. This Section does not abrogate or modify in any way any statutory or other privilege or immunity enjoyed by such person or entity.

            C. Any person or entity covered by the provisions of this Section shall be entitled to an award of attorney fees and costs if they are the prevailing party in a civil suit and the party bringing the action was not substantially justified in doing so. For the purposes of this Section, a proceeding is “substantially justified” if it had a reasonable basis in law or fact at the time that it was initiated.

            Acts 1992, No. 707, §2; Acts 2001, No. 1158, §2; Redesignated from La. Rev. Stat. 22:1247 by Acts 2008, No. 415, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2009; Acts 2012, No. 271, §1; Acts 2013, No. 217, §1; Acts 2022, No. 159, §1, eff. May 25, 2022.